Candy-coating machine.



W FHiTZ.

CJ-ZHGY COATING MACHINE.

APPLICAHOH man AFR.3, ms.

ATTORNEYS NVENTOR Patented Apr. 2%, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- I II W U WV W i h Q WITNESSES w. FRaTz.

CANDY COATiNG APPLICATION HLED APR.3,1 9S5.

MACHINE.

INVEM'UR Patented; Apr. 24, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- wlmas'fs ss I ATTORNEYS W. FRHZ,

CANDY COATING MACHINE.-

APPLICATIDN nun APR-3,1915.

Patented Apr. 2%;1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS WiTNESSES ofi im WILLIAM FRITZ, OF PI-IILADELPI-IIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CANDY-CKJATING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr.

Application filed April 3, 1915. Serial No. 18,875.

To all whom it may concern 2' Be it known that 1, WILLIAM FRITZ, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Candy-Coating Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a machine for coating candy or similar confectionery, in which blanks are fed between sprays or sheets of chocolate in a solution of a required or desired consistency, and thereupon drying such coated pieces.

It further consists of such a machine in which the blanks are evenly coated and kept separate until dried and ready for packing.

It further consists of such a. machine in which the coating upon the blanks is evenly spread by the supports and feeders being reciprocated and shaken while being carried through the machine.

It further consists of other novel features of construction. all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detail one mechanical form embodying the invention, such detail construction being but one of various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

' In the drawings Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of my machine for coating confectionery blanks with chocolate.

Fig. 2 represents a top plan view of the machine.

Fig. b represents a diagrammatic side elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4 represents a transverse section of one of the pumps.

Fig. 5 represents a transverse section of one of the spraying pipes.

Fig. 6 represents a detail view of one end of a roller-shaft.

Fig. 7 represents a detail view of one of the plates operating in moving the coated confectionery.

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 represent detail views of means for forming ornamentation upon the coating.

Fig. 11 represents a detail view of adjusting means for disks.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the figures.

"Referring to the drawings, the reference nume r al 1 indicates a tank, mounted on legs,

2, and having an inlet, 3, near its top and an outlet, 4, at its bottom, by means of which such tank is supplied with a fluid, such steam or hot water, to maintain an even temperature in the tank. A container, 5, is secured from the upper end of the tank, to form a chamber, 6, having a semicylindrieal bottom, 7, and two' vertical walls, 8. A shaft, 9, is journaled in the side-walls of the tank and container, and is axial to the semicylindrical bottom of the latter, and blades or paddles, 10, are radially secured to such shaft to agitate the liquid coating in the container and maintain it at predeterminechtemperature and consistency. A cy lindrical piston-chamber, 11, is located beneath the tank and container, and has a roller, 12, journaled in the same, eccentrically to the piston-chamber and having a piston-blade, l i, slidably and diametrically supported in a longitudinai slot, 15, in the roller,'with its longitudinal edges in tight but movable fit upon the interior of the wall of the piston-chamber. A pipe, 16, extends from the bottom of the container to the upper side of the pistonchamber, and a pipe, 17, extends upward, parallel to said pipe, from the top of said chamber and out through the open top of the stirring chanr ber. A valve, 18, is provided in the bottom of the piston-chamber, through which the contents of said chamber may be drawn when the machine .is stopped for cleaning or similar purpose.

Two pairs of uprights, 19 and 20, are provided at the feeding-end of the machine, and a transverse roller, 21, is journaled in the upper ends of the uprights 19 and another transverse roller, 22, is journaled in the upper ends of the uprights 20, parallel to the feed-edge of the open tank and an endless apron, 131, is fitted to travel around said rollers to have its upper portion in a horizontal plane above the upper edge of the tank, and transverse strips, 132, secured upon its outer surface at predetermined relative distances. The inner transverse roller is of larger diameter than the outer roller 21, which has horizontally adjustable bearings, 23, for adjusting the tension of the apron. A roller, "24, has its ends journale l in horizontally adjustable bearings, 25. below the outer roller 21, and a roller has adjustable bearings, 27, and is journaled below the large-diameter roller 22. preferably formed from coiled wire, pass are Elastic bands, 29,

around the rollers, and bear against the outer face of the horizontal portion of the apron. A table, 30, is provided at the outer roller, in horizontal alinement with the hori- 5 zontal portion of the apron and with its edge closely approached to the latter. Said feeding table has preferably longitudinal grooves, 31, which correspond with their ends with the spaces between pairs of the peripheral bands upon the horizontal traveling apron;

A pair of transverse rollers, 32, are journaled above'the transverse edges of the stirring chamber with the uppermost portions of their peripheries in a horizontal plane with the feeding apron, and said rollers have an endless apron, 35, of suitable open-work construction, a suitable form of which is seen in -Fig. 22, forming a continuance of the bands of the feeding table. A transverse board, 35:, is supported between the inner feeding roller and the adjoining roller 32 to connect the feeding table and the apron upon the last described rollers. right pipe 17 has a transverse pipe, 86, at its upper end, formed with a series of sprayopenings or ports, 37,01 anarrow slot, in its lower side, This latter pipe extends across themaching' and has a downwardly bent portion, 38, 'at'the end, from the lower end of which a perforated or slotted pipe, 39, passes beneath the upper portions of the endless apron and has its end closed at the opposite 'sideyof the machine frame. The, transversespray-pipes have valve-tubes, 4.0 and 4:1,

fitted in their interiors and have"port-open ings, 4:2 and 43, which tubes by rocking them, can more or less cover or uncover the portopenings in thespray-pipes. The valve- 40 tubes can be adjusted within the spray-pipes to discharge the coating liquid in the desired quantities by turning the valve-tubes and securing them by screws, 4A, in peripheral slots, 45, in the spray-pipes. The apron 35 carries. the blanks or fillings,- 46, to be coated, between the upper. and lower spray-pipes,

covering the blanks with the liquid coating,

and the upper portion of the apron has a transverse bar, 4C7, bearing against it from below and has secured at its ends two levers,

4:8, fulcrumed upon the sides of the machineframe to rock in vertical planes. Cams, 49,

are secured upon transverse shafts, 50, in the frame and will engage and rock the levers as the shafts are rotated, and the transverse bar will shakefthe net-apron to shake surplus coating from the blanks.

Bearings, 51, are supported upon the sideframes at short distances beyond the rollers around which the net apron travels, and transverse shafts, 52, are journaled in said bearings with their axes in about the level of the upper spray-pipe, and each of said shafts has disks, 53, formed with. radial and slightly outwardly widening notches, 54, in

The up-' their per1pher1es,four notches being here illustrated in each disk. Sprocket-wheels, 55, are secured to the shafts and two sprocketchains, 56, pass around said wheels to, be I driven in unison. Flat strips, 57, are secured at regular intervals to links of said chains to successively engage with their ends in the inner ends of the notches in the disks, and said strips are spaced to correspond to the length of the blanks or cores of the candy and have outwardly projecting pins, 105, so as to move transverse rows of such blanks toward the discharge end of the machine, one row ata time. The disks have peripheral grooves, 106, and elastic bands, 107 run in so such grooves to permit of the requisite resiliency.

Three pinions, 58, 59 and 60, of the same diameters, are supported at the discharge ends of the coil-bands upon each side of the machine frame, the pinions 58 and 60, being secured upon the ends of two shafts, 61 and 62, journaled in the sides of the machine frame and inc shaft-62 being revolved by connection with the revolving elements of the machine One idle pinion 59 is journaled in each set to mesh with the pinions 58 and 60, being rotatable upon a stud, 63, in a horizontal line with the" ends of the shafts, and the ends of the shafts carry cams, 6A,".which-engage the loweredges of vertically movableflat bars, 65, upon the sides of the machine frame and each having a vertical slot, 66, at its middle and engaged by a stud, 67, upon the face of the middle pinion. Transverse rods, 68, are secured at their ends in the sides. of the machine frame at the discharge end of the coiled bands ca'rryingthe blanks, and longi tudinal blades, 69, are longitudinally secured uponsaid rods to receive the blanks upon their upper edges from such bands. A transverse rod, 70, has a number; of blades, 71, secured to it between the rigid blades, and said rod is secured at its ends upon the slotted bars 65, which bars are raised, moved forward, lowered and moved backward with their upper edges above the edges of the stationary blades to raise the blanks from the latter, moving them to the discharge end above the stationary blades, and discharging uponan endless apron, 117, forming a horizontal traveling surface by passing around a large-diameter roller, 118, and a small diameter roller, .119. A flat casing 120, open at both ends, is supported over the horizontal portion of the apron, and has an inclined hood, 121, open through the upper wall of the casing and above thedischarge end of the casing, Where such opening has a slid ing gate, 131. A cooling box, 122, has a coil, 123, having an air-inlet, 124, at one end and an outlet, 125, connected to a blower, 126, forcing air into the hood, through a duct, 127, and creating a cooled current of air 3 )1 bar, 86, is supported to trans- "er;- iy reciprocate beneath the movable nozles and has seats 87 for the same, to impart ireral movements to the nozzles movably ipported in said reciprocating seats. A le- 88, is fulcrumed to be laterally rocked nsversely movable bar and a bent stub, its other limb which bears against an lar series of cam or ratchet teeth, 90, upon the face of a sprocket-wheel, 91, meshwith a sprocket-chain 92.

transverse tube, 93, formed with eccent-grical puinp-cyl'nders, 94:, one for each path of coated blankssdias a shaft, 95, journaled in it with diametrical slots, 96, in which pistor. blades, 9'7, are slidable with. their edges airing against the walls of the pump-cylin- The pump-shaft has a sprocket-wheel, 90, upon one end, and an arm, 99, is pivoted at its inner end upon the end of the shaft and a pawl, 100, upon its outer end, on gagingsaid sprocket-wheel. A connecting rod, 101, is pivoted at one end to said rockm and pawl and at the other end to the we of the sprocket-wheel 91.

e shafts of the peripherally grooved which carry the apron through the n; chamber have slotted ends, 102, en-

by tongues, 103, upon the ends of :ections rotatable and slidable in bear- 10-l-, in the machine frame to connect and disconnect the rollers.

"The grooved disks 53 are longitudinally loose upon their shafts to admit of them bein adjusted upon the same, and two trans erso "ews, 110 and 111, are journaled parall l with the shafts and have pinions, 112, u p their ends meshing with each other and on shaft has a knob or handle, 113, for re- 3; The grooved disks are stradled by forks, 11a, which haveeach a transsniooth slot, 115, and a threaded bore, .HS. in their shanks, which alternately engage ine and the other of the screws, so that pairs of disks can simultaneously be brought other or spread apart upon the screws and in. practice, the grooved feeding table has ltS grooves hlled wlth the blanks or cores to and one limb pivotally connected to the I be coated and are fed over upon the traveling apron in transverse rows and separated bar beneath the blanks, to shake the surplus of the liquid coating from the blanks and to smooth such coating. The pump beneath the stirring chamber forces the liquid coating up through the pipe and sprays the same over the blanks, and the'surplus liquid falls back in the stirring chamber. The carriers above the traveling elastic apron have their pins engaging the blanks, and help to shake and feed the coated confections. As the coated articles leave the apron, they slide out on the edges of the blades, the movable ones of which move the coated articles to the cooling casing. The cool draft of air blown into the casing near its discharge, will retard the coated confections and properly cool the same.

The tubes having the vibrating ends and nozzles upon such ends form serpentine or waved ornamented string patterns upon the upper sides of the pieces of candy, the ends of which strings are drawn thin when they are drawn out and severed between the two pieces of candy.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed for the mode herein explained. Changes may therefore be made as regards the mechanism thus disclosed, provided the principles of construction set forth, respectively, in the following claims are employed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let.- ters Patent, is

1. In a coating machine, a pair 'of transverse rollers, an endless feeding apron fitted around said rollers and having transverse strips upon them, elastic bands fitting around said apron at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement to "the apron and bands, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless open work apron upon said rollers, means for rotating said rollers, transverse rotary supports above the ends of said apron, elastic endless bands fitting around such supports and slightly above the 'open work apron and registering with the feedingubands, means for coating blanks during theirmovement, and means for exposing the coated blanks from the open work apron to cooling air.

2. In a coating machine, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless feeding apron fitted around said rollers and having transverse strips upon them, elastic bands fitting around said apron at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement to the apron and bands, a pair the elastic apron is shaken by the transverse of transverse rollers, an endless open work apron upon said rollers, means for rotating said rollers, transverse rotary supports above the ends of said apron, elastic endless bands fitting around such supports and slightly strips upon them, elastic bands fitting around said apron at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement to the apron and bands, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless open work apron upon said rollers, means for rotating 7 said rollers, transverse rotary supports above the ends of said apron, elastic endless bands fitting around such supports and slightly I above the open work apron, and registering With the feeding bands, means for coating blanks during their movement, vibrating means acting agains the upper portion of the open work apron to vibrate the latter, and means, for exposing the coated blanks fromthe open work. apr'on to cooling air.

a 4. In a coating machine, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless feeding apron passed around said rollers, bands fitting around said apron'-at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement. to the apron and bands, trans verse rollers, an endless open-work apron on said rollers, means for rotating the roll ers transverse rotary supports above the en s of said apron, endless bands fitting around said supports and slightly above the open-work apron and registering with said feeding bands. means for coating blanks during their movement, and means for exposing the coated blanks from the open-work apron to cooling air.

5. In a coating machine, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless feeding apron passed around said rollers, bands fitting around said apron at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement to the apron and bands, transverse rollers, an endless open-work apron on said rollers, a rotary support above the ends of said apron, flexible carriers around said rotary support, endless bands fitting around said supports and slightly above the open-work apron and registering with said feeding bands, means for coating blanks during their movement, and means for exposing the,

coated blanks from the open-work apron to cooling air.

6. In a coating machine, a pair of transverse rollers, anv endless feeding apron s their movement, means for exposing the coated blanks from the open-Work apron to cooling air, and transverse means supported at given distances upon said carriers and having outwardly projecting pins.

7 In a coating machine, a pair of trans verse rollers, an endless feeding apron passed around said rollers, bands fitting around said apron at predetermined dis tances, means for imparting longitudinal movement'to the apron and bands, transverse rollers, an endless open-work apron on: said rollers, means for rotating the rollers, transverse rotary supports above the ends of said apron, endless bands fitting around said supports and slightly above the open-work apron and registering with said feeding bands, means for coating blanks during their movement, a casing having open ends and means at one end f said casing for admitting a current of'fair against the coated articles in an oblique downward direction and against the directinn of move ment of such articles.

8. In a coating machine, a pair of transverse rollers, an endless feeding apron passed around said rollers, bands fitting around said apron at predetermined distances, means for imparting longitudinal movement to the apron and bands, transverse rollers, an endless open-Work apron on said rollers, means for rotating the rollers, transverse rotary supports above the ends of said apron, endless bands fitting around said supports and slightly above the open-work apron and registering with said feeding bands, means for coating blanks during their movement, means for applying coating liquid from above and below said apron upon the blanks carried thereby, and means for exposing the cooling air.

spraying means coated blanks to WILLIAM FRITZ. Witnesses C. D. MCVAY, v K. M. BRorHY. 

